we are far from washington. in washington, everyone is focused on the budget. that is important because we are undergoing a reduction in the defense bar get negative -- in the defense budget that is as large as deep as the post- vietnam and post-cold war production. it is large and consequential. i can get to that later. .ou started on the right note the other huge transition before us is the transition from the first 9/11 decade, which was characterized by two wars in two particular places, of one particular kind, mainly counterinsurgency. also, the first post-9/11 decade of wrestling with the counter-terrorism problem. those were the rigging, .efining, daily preoccupations you cannot be any other way when you have responsibility in the department of defense and you have troops at war. i spent an enormous amount of my time on afghanistan. i still and will for some time to come simply because we have people there. at the same time, we all know that era is coming to an end. we need to turn our minds and tos from the set of problems the opportunities and challeng